Athena Coustenis: Professional Status

Born 28 September 1961, in Athens, Greece, French resident, French and Greek nationality.

Short CV: Athena Coustenis is Director of Research 1st class with the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) of France, working at Paris Observatory in Meudon. Her specialty is Planetology (exploration and study of the Solar System from ground-based and space observations). Her research is devoted to the investigation of planetary atmospheres and surfaces, with emphasis on icy moons like Titan and Enceladus, Saturn’s satellites, and Jupiter’s Ganymede and Europa, objects with high astrobiological potential. She also works on the characterisation of exoplanetary atmospheres. In the recent years she has been leading efforts towards the definition of future space missions. She is also participating in the advisory structure of European and US space agencies and boards.

Athena Coustenis is an Astrophysicist with a specialty in space exploration. She works in the field of Planetology. Her research is devoted to the investigation of planetary atmospheres and surfaces, with emphasis on Earth-like Titan, Saturn’s largest satellite, as well as its smaller cryovolcanic sibling, Enceladus. She also investigates the nature of the Galilean satellites, Ganymede and Europa in particular. She has also contributed to efforts to uncover the nature of the atmospheres surrounding the extrasolar planets. She has led many observational campaigns from the ground using large telescopes (CFHT, UKIRT, VLT, etc) and has used the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) to conduct planetary investigations.

A. Coustenis contributes to the definition and development of space missions and to the exploitation of the acquired data. She is Co-Investigator of three of the instruments (CIRS, HASI, DISR) aboard the Cassini/Huygens space mission to Saturn and Titan, into which she was involved from the beginning of the definition phase. She analyses and interprets the spectro-imaging data recovered since 2004 using her own radiative transfer codes and other analysis tools. Since 2009, she was involved, as European Science co-Lead, in the JUICE mission to study Ganymede and the Jupiter’s system, currently planned for launch by ESA in 2022. In 2007 and 2008 she was the Lead European Scientist of the Titan/Saturn System Mission (TSSM) studied jointly by ESA and NASA. Her expertise in space missions has allowed her to Chair and to participate in several advisory groups within ESA and NASA and other European Institutions.

Current research management and outreach

President Elect of the European Science Foundation Space Sciences Committee (ESF/ESSC)

The NASA Group Achievement Award for the Cassini Program Descent Imager Radiometer Spectrometer (DISR)

The NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award for the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI)

The NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award for the Descent Imager Spectrometer radiometer (DISR)

The ESA Award for making an outstanding contribution to the Huygens Probe.

The 2012 Trophy for Feminine Success of the French Mediterranean Association.

Production and Outreach :

She has written more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers (H=38), several articles for the public, participated in the juries many public astronomy contests, made several TV and film/documentary appearances in connection to Titan, Cassini and the extrasolar planets. She has delivered more than 500 science lectures, many public conferences on planetology and participated in several television/media documentaries.